Polish prime minister fires finance minister in overhaul

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's conservative prime minister says she is firing her finance minister and giving his duties to the country's deputy prime minister as part of a government restructuring.

Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said the dismissal of Finance Minister Pawel Szalamacha on Wednesday was dictated by the need to speed up and consolidate economic reforms.

Szydlo says the ministry will now be led by Minister of Development and Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Szalamacha had served as finance minister since November. He recently yielded to European Union protests and backed away from a trade tax he introduced on foreign-owned supermarkets operating in Poland.

Szydlo spoke following a weekly government session where cabinet members also hammered out a draft 2017 budget.